Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bish]

really struggling with voabulary at the moment and have heard there are a couple of decent books out. unfortunately i have forgotten the titles. any suggestions would be much appreciated!

[lost at sea]

The best textbook is the internet, and it's free

[ThingsComeAround]

no no!
the best textbook is a hardcover dictionary

[mimis]

There was a thread about this just a week ago!

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?p=2321289

[koala5]

are there any good vocab books mentioned in that previous post about good texts? I believe the best one I have been still reading is Survival Korean Vocabulary by Bryan Park (Brown coloured book) It has good examples. It is the best one I have seen out there and I have searched far and wide for good books.

Hope that helps.
Best thing is also just find a Korean ajumma that speaks no English and practice your vocab with her. I am so lucky the mother-in-law always helps me out with vocab as she speaks no English at all.

got to love the ajumma

[lost at sea]

I think a better question is, "Why do you study Korean?" and then we can point you to an appropriate textbook or source.

Let's face it. Someone that studies Korean to get around for a year or 2 in Korea doesn't need nearly the same vocabulary or depth that someone needs if they plan to go to graduate school or live in Korea for a long period of time.

I personally find "survival" and "learn Korean in 38.45 seconds a day with this book" series to be quite silly. The content is watered down and garbage. It may work for the casual traveler or person that plans to only use Korean to get around.

Anyone else will want to look at a real textbook. Such textbooks include but are not limited to:

Klear: Integrated Korean
Ganada: Korean for Foreigners

Other interesting and popular books seem to be the books produced by universities such as SNU, Yonsei or Sogang's Korean books for foreign learners.

Online resources are also great, and free.

Dictionary:
http://bluedic.com/

Grammar:
http://www.yust.edu/dic/index.php
http://parksguide.blogspot.com/
http://www.kosnet.go.kr/KLS.php?lang=en

Drama:
http://www.mysoju.com/

Games:
http://study.korean.net/edutain/game/game.jsp
http://jr.naver.com/typing/

Slang:
http://koreanlanguagenotes.blogspot.com/2005/11/do-you-know-any-good-korean-slang.html

[ChilgokBlackHole]

I can't find my boss's old picture dictionary. Go to Kyobo and you can find one like that. The best way I've found is to get the Korean => English learning resources and use them backwards.

[koala5]

this is why you said "personally" because we are all intitled to our own opinions. I am sure your vocab is super. I am sure everyone that studies Korean strat is different. Somehow the OP asked for a good vocab book? if ie likes the book good luck to him, if he doesn't like it so be it. At the end of the day the only way to learn stuff is to actual practice with the natives. If that is wrong shoot me. It is all good studying the great books you recommended but actually applying it is the hard part. I am sure you have a brain so use it!

[abigolblackman]

If it's vocabulary you're after, check out the "Korean" app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

I use the "Japanese Flip" equivalent and it has immensly improved my Japanese vocabulary, which is a big help because I'm taking the level 2 JLPT in June. My friend is using the Spanish version and he says his results are just as good.

I own the Korean app, but I don't have time to study with it at the moment seeing as I'm focusing on Japanese, but I'm sure it works just as well.

It's basically a flash card program that tracks your progress and repeats the words you don't know as well more often than the ones you're already proficient with.

Enjoy.

abigolblackman

[abigolblackman]

Meant to add a link...

http://koreanapp.com/

abigolblackman

[lost at sea]

http://smart.fm

Also has a iphone/ipod flash card program from Korean, Japanese etc. Or you can use it on the web. It allows you to search for pre-made lists or make your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB3ewfdQWII Pretty cool



If that doesn't interest you, you can always find flash cards here:

http://www.quizlet.com

[Dixon]

Get the book "2000 Essential Korean Words for Beginners." It should be at major bookstores in Seoul.

Why do I advocate this book?

1. All words have an example sentence, therefore allowing you to say the word in its proper context if you memorise the sentence. (I use Anki to help me memorise them).

2. It comes with a CD where all the sentences are spoken aloud by a native Korean speaker. You can put the tracks on your MP3 player and listen to them over and over.

3. The book has some interesting extras which aren't essential, such as tying words with the same root to their hanja, is organized in sections such as "Food" or "Feelings" which you may find helpful, and also has some diagrams with extra words at the back (no sentences).

It's really important to learn actual Korean rather than isolated words. Sentences are your friend.

[heynice]

These books are great because they have all the different conjugations

verbs
http://hanbooks.com/500bakove.html

adjectives
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Korean-Adjectives-Bryan-Park/dp/1565911490

these books can be found at the bandi & luni's bookstore around jongro-something-ga (i haven't been there in a while, so I forget which station it is in)

good luck learning

[crossmr]

I don't know about the 2000 vocab one, but there is one called 6000 Essential Korean Vocabulary
Its compiled by SNU and the vocab choices are based on word frequency. When getting started in vocabulary word frequency is one of the best ways to go. You'll be guaranteed that the words you're learning will show up a lot in newspapers, conversation, etc so you'll give yourself the best chance at getting a foundation down that you can actually use.

Its split into 3 levels, A the most frequent is 1000, B the next most frequent is 2000 and C the next level is 3000 words.